“[Podladtchikiov] has great taste in music,” said Naka G, aka Michael Nakagawa, a Colorado-raised DJ who provides the soundtrack during the extreme ski/snowboard events at the Sochi Olympics.

These events are not the serious, focused scene you'd expect from athletes competing at the sport's highest level: It's a loud, electric party atmosphere.

“The Olympics has caught onto that subculture of extreme sports and part of that culture is music,” Nakagawa said over the phone from Sochi while he was preparing for women's halfpipe. “It's not like in curling where you have to be real quiet. It's not like an ice golf event.”

And like any good DJ, Nakagawa takes requests, too. So before Ayumu Hirano's silver medal run in the men's halfpipe competition, the 15-year-old Japanese snowboarder asked to hear N.W.A's “Straight Outta Compton” — a 1988 hip-hop classic detailing the realities of inner-city life in L.A.

“I was surprised to get Ayumu's. He's a 15-year-old Japanese kid, and he wanted to hear N.W.A, which I totally respect,” Nakagawa said.

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But unfortunately the Olympics isn't the place for the forerunners of gangsta rap.

“I could have gotten away with it at the X Games, but it wouldn't have flown here,” said Nakagawa, who is given a library of 5,000 Olympic-approved songs and can request additional tracks be added. Ayumu settled for “Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden.

After playing for a few years in clubs in Aspen, Nakagawa began DJing for the X Games in 2002. His reputation grew, and he was brought on board to DJ the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

During the years he's come to know the athletes and their tastes, and even DJ'ed an event after X Games with Podladtchikov.

“With the men the music is a little bit more edgy,” Nakagawa said. “There are quite a few requests, especially from the American boys, for hip-hop and classic rock.”

The women, he said, are more into the poppy stuff — American snowboarder Kelly Clark had requested Katy Perry for women's halfpipe. Her teammate Kaitlyn Farrington wanted to hear “Shoop” and “Push It” by Salt N' Pepa.

“We have to be the soundtrack for the story being told out to the crowd. It's like you're making a live movie,” Nakagawa said.

The making of this movie includes reacting to the vibe of the crowd and athletes. If there's a tense moment, Nakagawa plays the music to match, or if someone takes a bad spill he brings the music down.

One of only a handful of DJs at the Sochi Olympics, Nakagawa will handle a number of events before flying home to Colorado on Feb. 23.